THE President of the United States, Mr Roosevelt,
is not only a good ruler, as recent events have shown, but a very plucky fellow,
both morally and physically. He has been under fire pretty often as a soldier,
and has evidently decided that the best way to deal with Anarchists is to defy
them. He declines consequently to have a special guard or any police protection,
and walks to the houses of his friends, or rides in public with a single companion,
without escort, or armed men stationed at supposed dangerous points. His argument
is “That nobody can protect you from an enemy who will give his life for yours,
and that men less fanatic rarely succeed in their attempts.” There is this to
be said also, that if an assassin could get away finally he would remain unknown,
and the grand object of his crime, which is to frighten rulers with the Anarchist
spectre, would, as a matter of course, be frustrated. A year or two will show
which plan succeeds the best, for Mr McKinley, who was murdered, was always
surrounded by detectives, but we fancy that Mr Roosevelt will be more fortunate.
In the old days in Ireland it was often said that the safest landlord in the
country was the man who did not ask for police protection but was perfectly
certain, if only wounded, to shoot the assassin dead. It must be remembered,
however, that there was a vast difference between the two classes of crimes
and the motives or causes which led up to them.